Who better than Russian security experts to deliver the ultimate in proactive protection for Windows PCs?

This new version of the award-winning software provides home, small-office and mobile corporate users with powerful protection against spyware, keyloggers, Trojans, hackers, identity theft, rootkits, wireless network hijacking, and other Internet-borne attacks.

Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 is available immediately worldwide for US$39.95, including updates for one year, by download from www.agnitum.com. Customers may also purchase the software through the company’s global network of resellers and distributors. A full list of resellers may be found here. Trial versions may also be downloaded from official website. The software runs under Windows XP, x64, 2000, 98 and ME and is available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Russian.

"Outpost has always been recognized for its heavy-duty, yet easy-to-use security products,” said Mikhail Penkovsky, global vice president of Sales and Marketing at Agnitum. The company is based in St. Petersburg and is Europe’s leading developer of firewalls, licensing its firewall technologies to Novell, Sophos and Lavasoft, among others.

“Russians are known as some of the most talented hackers and cybercriminals. So who better than Russian security experts to stop them from breaking into your PC?” said Penkovsky. “Like any responsible security software vendor, we would never claim to provide 100 percent protection, but we believe we are delivering as close to 100 percent as possible with today’s technology — certainly much stronger protection than users will get from basic firewalls such as that provided by Microsoft’s OneCare service.”

Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 delivers this high level of protection with a range of new and improved tools, including support for 64-bit operating systems.

Strengthened anti-leak functionality, preventing all known methods for stealing information from a user’s PC by Trojans, spyware and adware that exploit operating system holes. With version 4, users may customize permissions and restrictions on outbound data transfers by any application attempting to gain control of another, attempting to launch a browser, or attempting to use the memory space of a trusted application.

Spyware protection now blocks all known malicious applications. Additional protection against unknown malicious applications has been added with the forced scanning of all applications before they are permitted to execute. To do this, Outpost simulates execution of the program in a closed ‘sandbox’ and tests it for legitimacy before permitting or blocking its actual execution. System performance is unaffected.

ImproveNet is enhanced. The community that brings Outpost users and Agnitum security experts together to share configurations now automatically distributes verified rules to protect against the latest threats. Version 4 adds a new set of rules to govern local application interactions on the user’s PC, giving a greater level of control over local processes that prevent hijacking of legitimate applications.

Improved usability. Version 4 introduces a new “Entertainment Mode” for users playing online games, watching movies or engaging in other activities on the PC that they don’t want interrupted. This mode suppresses Outpost prompts – and access decisions are made automatically in the background. Advanced users may also apply macro definitions to customize adaptive firewall rules.

Self-protection technology prevents Outpost from being deactivated by viruses, Trojans or spyware, even through the simulation of keystrokes that would cause the firewall to be shut down. Outpost continuously monitors its own files on the hard drive, as well as registry entries, memory status and running services, and blocks any attempted changes by malicious applications.

“Version 4 establishes a new standard in proactive protection for Windows PCs,” said Alexey Belkin, chief software architect at Agnitum. “It provides the ultimate combination of powerful protection without sacrificing the ease of use that enables users to benefit from that protection.”

About Agnitum

Founded in 1999, Agnitum Ltd. is committed to delivering and supporting high-quality, easy to use security software. The company’s products are Outpost Firewall Pro, securing personal and family desktops, and Outpost Network Security, ensuring reliable endpoint protection and performance for small business networks.